Rules for Resistance: Advice from Around the Globe for the Age of Trump

by David Cole, Melanie Wachtell Stinnett

Overview

Some of us have been here before. Many people living today in America and around the world have direct experience with countries where an autocrat has seized control. Others have seen charismatic, populist leaders come to power within democracies and dramatically change the rules of the road for the public, activists, and journalists alike. In Rules for Resistance, writers from Russia, Turkey, India, Hungary, Chile, China, Canada, Italy, and elsewhere tell Americans what to expect under our own new regime, and give us guidance for living—and for resisting—in the Trump era.

Advice includes being on the watch for the prosecution of political opponents, the use of libel laws to attack critics, the gutting of non-partisan institutions, and the selective application of the law.

A special section on the challenges for journalists reporting on and under a leader like Donald Trump addresses issues of free speech, the importance of press protections, and the critical role of investigative journalists in an increasingly closed society. An introduction by ACLU legal director David Cole looks at the crucial role institutions have in preserving democracy and resisting autocracy.

A chilling but necessary collection, Rules for Resistance distills the collective knowledge and wisdom of those who “have seen this video before.”

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781620973554
Publisher:	New Press, The
Publication date:	05/23/2017
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

David Cole is the legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union, a frequent contributor to the New York Review of Books and The Nation, and the author of books including Enemy Aliens and Engines of Liberty (both from The New Press). He lives in Washington, D.C.

Melanie Wachtell Stinnett is former director of policy and communications at the Tobin Project and co-author with Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Captured (The New Press).

Table of Contents

Introduction David Cole xi

Part I Europe 1

"I Watched a Populist Leader Rise in My Country. That's Why I'm Genuinely Worried for America" (Hungary) Miklós Haraszti 3

"Advice from Europe for Anti-Trump Protesters" (Poland) Anne Applebaum 7

"Donald Trump, America's Own Silvio Berlusconi" (Italy) Alexander Stille 11

"The Right Way to Resist Trump" (Italy) Luigi Zingales 21

"Open Society Needs Defending" (European Union) George Soros 25

Part II The Middle East 31

"Prepare for Regime Change, Not Policy Change" (Turkey) N. Turkuler Isiksel 33

"Trump, Sisi, and a Nationalist World" (Egypt) Rana Allam 41

"What Americans Against Trump Can Learn from the Failures of the Israeli Opposition" (Israel) Bernard Avishai 47

Part III Asia 53

"Authoritarian Democracy: A Playbook" (India) Nick Robinson 55

"Surviving Trump: Tips from the World's Largest Democracy to the Oldest" (India) Satyen K. Bordoloi 61

"The Art of the Outrage" (India) Suketu Mehta 67

"A Warning for Americans from a Member of Pussy Riot" (Russia) Jim Rutenberg 77

"In Case of Political Catastrophe" (Russia) Nadya Tolokonnikova of Pussy Riot 83

"What the Trump Era Will Feel Like: Clues From Populist Regimes Around The World" (Various Populist Regimes) Mefik Kaylan 85

"The Terrifying Lessons of the Philippines" Vigilante President" (Philippines) Peter Apps 93

"Remarks On Erasure" (China) Ai Weiwei 97

Part IV Latin America 103

"What Hugo Chávez Tells Us About Donald Trump" (Venezuela) Alberto Barrera Tyszka 105

"In Venezuela, We Couldn't Stop Chávez. Don't Make the Same Mistakes We Did" (Venezuela) Andrés Miguel Rondón 109

"Will Democracy Survive Trump's Populism? Latin America May Tell Us" (Latin America) Carlos de la Torre 115

"Now, America, You Know How Chileans Felt" (Chile) Ariel Dorfman 119

"Latin American Revolutionaries Have Some Urgent Advice For Dealing With Trump" (Latin America) Tim Rogers 123

Part V Journalists on Covering Trump 129

"African Journalists Have Tips for Their US Counterparts on Dealing with a President That Hates the Press" (Africa) Mohamed Keita 131

"Maneuvering a New Reality for US Journalism" (South Africa and India) Nic Dawes 135

"Canadian Journalists Who Covered Rob Ford Offer Tips on Trump" (Toronto) Bryan Borzykowski 143

"A Message to My Doomed Colleagues in the American Media" (Russia) Alexey Kovalev 149

"The News Media Has to Change or It'll Get Steamrolled by Trump" (United States) Paul Waldman 153

"Journalism in the Age of Trump: Lose the Smugness, Keep the Mission" (United States) Margaret Sullivan 157

Part VI Indivisible: A Practical Guide for Resisting the Trump Agenda 161

Contributor Biographies 197